


The Man Who Looks Like Bucky

by thebrightestbird



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Anti-Donald Trump, Humor, M/M, Meta, Star Trek References, Time Travel, pop culture references
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-03
Updated: 2017-04-03
Packaged: 2018-10-14 09:17:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,397
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10533456
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thebrightestbird/pseuds/thebrightestbird
Summary: Tony and Bruce accidentally build a time machine that brings Bucky Barnes from World War II to the present.This crazy little fic was inspired by theStar Trekepisode "The City on the Edge of Forever" and a bit of the firstStar Trekreboot movie.





	

 

"Oh. Shit.” Tony rips off his protective goggles in astonishment.

“What did we do?!” Bruce screams in horror.

Most of the Avengers are gaping at a new visitor who in a flash of light appeared in the middle of the lab. The man is gaping right back at them.

The man looks like Bucky.

No one says another word for about a minute. When everyone registers who the man looks like, all eyes glide over to Steve.

Steve looks like he might throw up.

“Steve, what the hell just happened?” the man who looks like Bucky asks. “And why does your uniform look different?”

Steve opens and closes his mouth without a sound.

“Pal, you all right?” the man who looks like Bucky starts to ask and almost approaches, but Steve’s stunned possum look makes him rethink the move. “You’re not Steve?”

The question shakes Steve out of his reverie. “Wait, I am! It’s definitely me. I, uh, just,” Steve trails off. “Are you really Bucky?”

“Of course, I’m Bucky! What the fuck is going on?”

A dual “ow!” is heard in the room then, coming from Tony and Bruce.

“That’s it,” Clint says, after smacking the scientists over their heads, “you two lunkheads are never allowed to science together again. What happened?”

Tony and Bruce look at each other and immediately start pointing figurative and literal fingers. “I don’t even know,” Bruce says. “That was supposed to be a bunch of rocks. Tony must have messed up the math.”

“Pffft,” Tony eloquently retorts. “Like I ever mess up math. Bruce must not have correctly configured the teleporter to properly recognize the form of matter it was supposed to pick up.”

“Oh, you ass! You probably coded the damn thing to pick up humanoid life without telling me.”

“No, I didn’t, because we weren’t even sure we could teleport rocks. We weren’t even close to being able to test this on humans.”

“Well, yet again, we did something right without being smart enough to know we were doing it in the first place because that right there is Bucky Barnes … with a haircut.”

“So, we were successful!” Tony says, throwing his arms up in fake celebration. “We managed to teleport a human. We were aiming for that anyway. What’s the big deal?”

“BECAUSE HE HAS TWO ARMS, TONY!” Steve startles the team with his exclamation.

They all look back at the man who looks like Bucky. He’s wearing a blue, thick peacoat, rugged pants, and military-style boots. And like Bruce mentioned, his hair is short and styled somewhat. And like Steve said, he has both arms if his ungloved, nonmetallic hands are to be believed.

He’s starting to look panicked, but Steve redirects the man to look at him. “Buck, what’s the last thing you remember before getting here?”

Despite the man’s previous concern that this wasn’t Steve, he answers. “We were in the Swiss Alps. We were waiting for Zola’s train.”

Steve sucks in a breath.

A horrifying thought hits Tony. “Friday, where is,” he pauses to figure out how to phrase his question, “codename Winter Soldier at the moment?”

“Eating in the mess hall with Agent Romanoff, boss.”

The voice out of nowhere startles the man in the lab, but Steve puts up a placating hand.

“Well, at least we know the Bucky Barnes we all know and fear is still around,” Tony reasons. “So … time travel. Bruce fucked up and made a time travel machine.”

Bruce takes off his glasses and pinches the bridge of his nose. “Why did I come back? Could have flown that jet anywhere after defeating Ultron. Better yet, I should’ve gone off to outer space with Thor. Can’t believe I turned that down.”

“Bucky,” Steve says to redirect everyone’s attention. “I don’t know how – and those jerks over there,” motioning to Tony and Bruce, “are going to figure it out – but you’re in the year 2017.”

Bucky (and everyone in the room has finally accepted that this is indeed a version of Bucky Barnes) doesn’t seem to be processing the information. “But you,” he points to Steve with wide-eyed helplessness, “how about you?”

Steve looks a bit bashful. “I was here already.”

Bucky can’t believe it. “You didn’t age in 70 years?”

“That’s not quite it,” Steve hedges.

Bucky takes an encompassing inspection of the lab and everyone surrounding him. “I expect to hear one hell of a story from you, Rogers.”

Steve gives a lopsided grin. “Most definitely, Buck.”

The time machine chooses that moment to spray sparks and inexplicably collapses.

Clint smacks Tony and Bruce upside their heads again.

-||-

This was the plan:

Step 1: Keep the Buckys apart as long as possible. Not because of any time-paradox fears. It’s just that no one wanted to deal with that scenario quite yet.

Step 2: Figure out if anything in history of note has changed. Crazy stuff like Pietro dying in Sokovia, Beyonce not getting album of the year for _Lemonade_ at the Grammys, or God-forbid a civil war of sorts breaking out within the Avengers team. You know, impossible stuff.

Step 3: ~~PROFIT.~~ Fix the machine and send Bucky back to the past.  (“Quit fucking with the dry erase board, Barton!”)

To accomplish Step 1, Steve takes Bucky Prime (Tony the _Star Trek_ fanboy’s idea to differentiate the two Buckys) to the rec room to talk and Clint goes to the mess hall to keep Bucky and Natasha occupied. Tony and Bruce stay in the lab to work on Steps 2 and 3.

-||-

“This is probably the worst thing you could have ever told me, Steve.”

Steve looks at the wall to his left, avoiding eye contact with Bucky. “I’m so sorry. I just thought it was what you needed to hear first. Just ripping the bandage off.”

Bucky shakes his head in disbelief. His fists balled in outrage. “How could you have let this happen?!”

“I didn’t know! I woke up too late,” Steve answers, helplessly. “There was no way I could’ve known.”

Bucky turns away from Steve and stares out at the city through the expansive windows. “But why?” he asks, almost a whisper.

“Who knows? You can’t reconcile something so unmerciful, so overwhelming.”

“What did you say they were called?” Bucky asks.

Steve takes a deep breath. “Hipsters, Buck. They’re all over Brooklyn, and they make terrible beer.”

-||-

Clint spots Bucky and Natasha alone at a table in the mess hall, probably deep in discussion over _Westworld_ again. Clint still hasn’t finished it. The dilemma: risk time imploding or risk spoilers? He plugs his ears before continuing toward the table.

“BUCKY, NAT, STOP ANY TALK ABOUT WHO THE MAN IN BLACK REALLY IS RIGHT THE HELL NOW!”

Their heads quickly face Clint, eyebrows raised.

Clint takes a seat. “I need to occupy you two for the next hour, at least.”

“The hell, Barton?” Bucky asks.

“Just trust me,” Clint says. “I’m saving the world by hanging out with you two at this moment.”

Natasha grabs one of his ears. “What happened?”

“Ow, ow, stop it!” Clint swats at her. “Trust, I said! Trust me, Nat, and just let me sit here and have a nonspoilery conversation with you guys.”

Nat and Bucky side-eye each other – communicating telepathically as all former Russian assassins seem to be able to do – and shrug. “Fine, Clint,” Natasha says. “You have an hour until we interrogate you.”

“But we’re going to get in some target practice,” Bucky says.

“Sure, I could show off some,” Clint says, with all sincerity.

Natasha and Bucky get up, looming over Clint. “Oh, no,” Natasha says. “You’re the target.”

Clint shifts focus from one person to the other. “I have children, guys. Three beautiful, tiny children.” He’s not afraid to use his kids to get out of shit. He’s a proud parent like that.

“Relax. No live rounds,” Bucky says. “But keep secrets from us, and this is your punishment. It’s in the Avengers handbook.”

_Stupid handbook,_ Clint laments in his head. “Fine, but don’t forget Rule 52.”

“Yes, yes,” Natasha says. “ _Free ice cream for life for your survivors in the event of accidental decapitation_. We’re not monsters, Clint.”

-||-

“So, you woke up after being frozen for about 70 years in ice?”

“Yes.”

“How exactly did you get into that ice?” Bucky crosses his arms for stern effect.

“Oh, you know,” Steve begins, as poorly nonchalant as ever. “Necessary reasons led me to crash a plane into Arctic waters.”

Bucky gives Steve a few smacks to the head. “Explain!”

-||-

“Friday, scan the news channels for anything that’s supposed to have not happened,” Tony says.

“Boss, how am I supposed to recognize anything of significance has changed as a result of Sgt. Barnes’ arrival from the past?”

“Friday’s right,” Bruce says. “If history really has changed, how is Friday, you, or I supposed to know the difference?”

“Don’t get your heart rate in a tizzy, Brucie. Why don’t we just scan a few of the top news channels and see if we can sense anything amiss?”

Tony flips on CNN first and sees Donald Trump. “What the hell is Trump up to now? He bankrupt another casino?” He flips the channel without listening and again sees the shitty billionaire. “What the hell?” He keeps flipping, but they all are broadcasting Trump.

“Uh, Tony? Check out the banner headline on the screen.”

The men move to get a closer look at the television. All other words blur for them except one. “ _President_?!” they scream in horror.

“Oh, God, Bruce. We fucked up! We fucked up bad!” Tony says.

Bruce turns to the time machine and grabs the soldering iron. “We’ve got to fix this now!”

-||-

Bucky lines up his shot, Clint’s head perfectly centered. “Any last words, Barton?”

“You have lousy taste in décor!”

Bucky is so thrown by the comment that he lowers his water gun. “You serious? You’re hating on my taste in furnishings? Not every place needs to be rustic Americana with antique … everything!”

“Boys!” Natasha interrupts. “Our hour’s almost up, and you both are terrible decorators. Let. It. Go!”

“Never!” Bucky and Clint say together, then drain the remaining water in their guns on each other.

Natasha sighs, pulls out her reserve water pistols from her thigh holsters, and calls upon her army of 9-year-olds dressed in different Avengers-themed swimwear who have been playing with them in the tower’s mini-waterpark. “Avengers, assemble!”

-||-

“You ever gonna tell me about … me?”

Bucky finally gets to pushing the one topic Steve has been vehemently avoiding. He’s been talking about, literally, everything else. He even pulled out his old notebook with all of the pop culture and historical things he needed to cover. Moon landing? Check. Civil rights movement? Check. Pixar films? Check. Oprah Winfrey? Check.

Steve even got through talking about the Chitauri invasion and judiciously recounted the fall of S.H.I.E.L.D. and Hydra’s part in it all. He just doesn’t know if he should tell Bucky about what he’s going to go through. Although, his life now is better than Steve could have imagined when he finally found Bucky in Romania and convinced him it was safe to come back with him.

“You’re hanging out with one of our best friends right now,” Steve finally tells Bucky. “You two have a lot in common, and she helps you in ways I can’t quite manage.”

“I’m still alive?”

Steve simply nods.

“How do I look at 100?” Bucky asks.

Steve smiles. “Handsome as ever. Still have a full head of hair.”

“But missing an arm?”

Steve just nods again.

“Steve, give me something! This is insane! You tell me I’m still alive in 2017. _You_ being alive,” Bucky emphasizes his words with a finger poking Steve in the pec, “I can believe. If super serum can pump you up to the size of Hercules, it’s gonna probably be able to preserve you. But I’m no super soldier.”

“But you are, Buck.”

Bucky scrunches his face in confusion.

Steve sighs and settles on how much he can tell Bucky. “When Hydra captured you, the experiments Zola conducted on you made you a super soldier.”

Bucky doesn’t say anything in response and just waits for more information.

“Bucky, those experiments helped you survive … everything. Things that maybe I can save you from now.”

“What are you saying, Steve?”

Steve grabs onto Bucky’s shoulders with enthusiasm. “Maybe, you don’t have to go back.”

Bucky’s mouth gapes for a second at the idea. “But weren’t those eggheads in the lab worried about how me being pulled from the past would affect history?”

“I can’t tell you what happens to you because telling you somehow feels like I’m making you endure it. The thought of actually sending you back there though … ” Steve trails off at the thought.

“That bad, huh?” Bucky asks.

Steve nods.

“But I’m alive now? With you?”

“Yeah, pal.”

“Are we happy?”

The question throws Steve. “I, uh, I think we’re doing well. We’re roommates again, although we could probably avoid each other if we wanted given the apartment in the tower is about 10 times the size of our old place back in the ’40s.”

“So, separate bedrooms?” Bucky sounds disappointed.

“… Yeah?” Steve is very confused. “We’re not hurting for money. Don’t have to split one bedroom anymore.”

Bucky’s staring at Steve in that way he does when Steve’s being bullheaded.

“I’m missing something, aren’t I?” Steve asks.

Bucky brings a hand up to cup Steve’s chin to get his full focus (and because he’s still so adorable after 70 years.) “I’m just gonna come out and clear things up since my future self seems to be keeping our head up our ass, and you seem to still be hopeless with love.”

“Hey, I dated Sharon for a bit. She’s nice.”

“But are you going steady with her or anyone right now?”

“No,” Steve answers.

“Am I making time with anyone?” Bucky asks.

“No.”

“And we’re still not screwing?”

“Bucky!” Steve is momentarily scandalized, then thinks better of it. “We could be doing that?”

“Yes, you punk!” And Bucky promptly kisses him.

The kiss ramps up as years and years of denial and frustration and heartbreak unfurl. Despite never having kissed each other before, they’re not awkward or tentative. This is comfortable and right.

And, of course, Tony interrupts them. “Hey, Cap!” Tony’s voice comes from the comm speakers.

Bucky, still not used to magical voices from nowhere, breaks the kiss and screams, “What the fuck?!”

Steve, who is more used to Tony’s tendency to interrupt anything and everything, simply keeps Bucky close and sighs. “What, Tony?”

“Just wanted to report our progress and check in on you two,” Tony says. “You’re not entertaining any thoughts of keeping your precious Bucky from returning to the past?”

Steve’s weirded out by Tony’s intuition. “How did you know?”

“Oh, please,” Tony says, “I know you, but you _can’t_ do it, Steve. If you had finished the original series of _Star Trek_ like I told you, you’d already know this, but it’s like that one episode where Kirk, Spock, and McCoy go back in time and figure out that if the pretty brunette Kirk’s in love with is saved from her tragic fate, the Nazis win.” Tony chances a look at the TV again. Steve Bannon is whispering in Trump’s ear. “It is actually very creepy how similar things are to that episode.”

Steve looks sadly at Bucky, dreading the answer to his next question. “You guys fixed the time machine?”

“Yeah, Steve,” Bruce answers. “Get back to the lab. It’s time.”

-||-

After the hour is up, Bucky and Natasha decide to skip the interrogation and simply get Wanda to read Clint’s mind.

“Oh my goddess! A past version of Bucky was accidentally transported to our time by Bruce and Tony.”

Bucky and Natasha turn murderous eyes onto Clint.

_Well, I’ve had a good run_ , Clint thinks. _My kids won’t miss me with all of the ice cream they’ve got coming. Oh, and the college funds. Of course._

Bucky seems almost lost, unable to process the idea of a version of himself from the past being nearby. Natasha, luckily, has gotten used to this level of weirdness by now.

“Friday, patch us through to Tony,” Natasha says. She pauses a moment, then continues. “Stark! You’ve had an hour. Did you fix things?”

“Ah, Romanoff, your confidence in me warms my heart,” Tony says. “Bring everyone to the lab. Let’s give the war hero a proper sendoff.”

-||-

When the rest of the Avengers reach the lab, they see Bucky Prime and Steve in the center. Holding hands.

Avenger Bucky walks slowly toward them. He looks at Steve and lifts an eyebrow. Steve blushes and looks away, contemplating whether it’s possible to cheat on Bucky with … Bucky. Avenger Bucky then scrutinizes his past self. “Are you fucking kidding me?”

Bucky Prime shrugs at himself. “One of us had to make a move, pal." He takes Avenger Bucky’s hand and places it in Steve’s. He looks at Steve and gives him a firm, final kiss. “Goodbye, Steve,” Bucky Prime says. “Thanks for everything you’re gonna do for me.” He moves to stand in front of the teleporting device.

Steve and present-day Bucky move in unison a little further to clear the blast area. “Is he gonna remember any of this?” Avenger Bucky asks Tony and Bruce.

“Probably not,” Bruce answers. “Since we’re returning him to his proper time, chronologically, this won’t have happened at all.”

Knowing exactly what Bucky is going to face as soon as he is sent back, Steve is choking on his tears and leaning on present-day Bucky for support. But he has sense enough to try to stack the deck ever so slightly in their favor. “Hey, Buck!” he shouts. “ _I'm with you till the end of the line_.”

Bucky Prime gives a sad smile and salutes his captain.

Tony flips the switch, and in a flash of light, he’s gone.

-||-

Steve immediately checks on Bucky next to him. He doesn’t visibly seem different. “How do you feel? Anything seem different?”

“I don’t think so.” Bucky reflexively pats various parts of his body for inspection. “Oh, except for one thing.”

“What-, mmph!” Bucky shuts Steve up with a kiss.

“Apparently, I’m allowed to do _that_ with you now,” Bucky snarks after breaking apart.

Steve smiles wide. “Yeah, that’s new. Definitely worth risking time and history and the world over.”

“Oh, I fucking hope so, Cap,” Tony says, “because we’re about to find out if the really bad shit we caused got fixed.”

He turns on the TV, already tuned to CNN, which seems to have breaking news. “This just in,” Wolf Blitzer says, “Donald Trump has announced his intentions to run yet again for the presidency of the United States. Since the country’s first woman president just took office, and the next presidential election isn’t until 2020, no one should take this seriously. We return you to Anthony Bourdain pretending to like food from other cultures.”

Tony and Bruce let out a loud “whoop!” and hug each other fiercely.

Then the time machine, yet again, sprays sparks and inexplicably collapses.

Clint makes sure to smack Tony and Bruce upside their heads even harder this time.

-||-

Bucky feels strange for a second. Like he’d been off-kilter and suddenly righted himself. He looks down, but he’s on level ground despite being near the edge of the snowy cliff the Commandos are operating on. Dernier’s still prepping the zip line. Dugan and Falsworth are lookout, and Jones and Morita are working on the radio.

Steve’s standing next to him. Bucky has the urge to bring up that time he made Steve ride the Cyclone on Coney Island. He has a tendency of doing that. Bringing up dumb stuff they’ve done in the past to lighten the mood, to give Steve that small respite. But this moment’s been made different, Bucky can feel it somehow.

Steve senses his tension and grabs his hand to get his attention. “You okay, Buck?”

Bucky would normally never let such a gesture go for long in public, but he feels the need to hold onto Steve’s hand at least for a moment longer. “Yeah,” he says unconvincingly. He stares hard at the train. “Let’s get the hell out of here.”

-end-

**Author's Note:**

> This mostly silly fic ends somberly because it seemed most fitting since I borrow so much from the greatest and saddest Star Trek episode ever. That last line is the last line of the episode, said by Kirk. See if you can spot the other classic line from the episode that I threw in this fic.


End file.
